KU News Release

Text of Chancellor Hemenway's speech at the All University Supper

Welcome to the 134th All University Supper at the University of Kansas. This tradition began in 1872 and like a lot of KU traditions, it just sort of rolls forward through the years on its own momentum. It is a little like the Thanksgiving decorations at the chancellor’s house. 

The first autumn that Leah and I were here, we were startled to come home one November evening and find our front porch and doorway transformed into a celebration of Puritan harvest, complete with corn stalks, pumpkins, hay bales, gourds and apples. We inquired and were informed that this was what KU always did for Thanksgiving, whether anyone was allergic to corn stalks or not. This reminded me of one of my favorite KU jokes. KU – light bulbs.

I speculated last year, that if the university’s planners just took a vacation some year and forgot to make arrangements for the All University Supper, people would still show up on the Friday night before commencement, ready to hear the chancellor describe the state of the university, proud to honor the Distinguished Service Citees on behalf of the Alumni Association.

I also speculated on what might happen if the chancellor himself, getting up in years and a little absent-minded, forgot about the occasion and went home on Friday to his usual Friday night activity — watching the Royals on TV. I am sure that some god of KU traditions would materialize, restore the chancellor’s sense of obligation and propel him toward the student union to offer up yet another litany of KU’s annual achievements.

My point is that there is a great sense of continuity and tradition to our presence here tonight, so much so that we can probably forego the pleasure of cheering the Royals on to yet another victory.

So let me talk about the state of the university. KU is the strongest that it has ever been, with the highest enrollment and the most qualified student body in history. Its Alumni Association is moving forward with a new philosophy and great leadership. Its Endowment Association continues to be a model for other universities.

KU is a public university, and 24 percent of our revenue comes from state appropriations. The legislature allocates us $240 million every year, and that constitutes our base funding. Our annual expenditures, however, are almost $1 billion, so it is easy to see what a great value KU is for the state of Kansas. For each dollar invested in KU, the state gets $3 in return, through research grants, private gifts, selling of intellectual property and other revenue producing operations. Sometimes we fear that this private fund raising will cause the legislature to tell us to depend more on private rather than public funds. That did not happen this year, which makes it appropriate to talk about the legislature, especially in the safety provided by their adjournment last week.

Your university was well treated by the governor and the legislature this session, and we owe great thanks to our supporters in the legislature, including the leadership of both the House and Senate and the governor.

• KU budget survived intact, as the governor recommended.             
• Modest salary increases were recommended and approved.
• The KU Cancer Center received a $5 million annual appropriation so that we can pursue designation as a comprehensive cancer center from NCI.
• Roy Jensen – “How many years will we have to continue this $5 million appropriation?”  “Only until we cure cancer, sir, and it will be the happiest day in both of our lives when we no longer have to request this support.”
• Breast Cancer Checkoff – state income tax check off for breast cancer research. Sen. Barbara Allen.
• Interest on tuition – Rep. Bill Fuerborn, Senate President Steve Morris.

KU is grateful for all the support it received. A number of House and Senate legislators supported KU:  Sens. Ray Merrick, Vicki Schmidt, Derek Schmidt, John Vratil, David Wysong, Jean Schodorf, Dwayne Umbarger and Jay Emler were very helpful, as were Reps. Bonnie Sharp, Stephanie Sharp, Carl Krehbiel, Ed O’Malley and Kevin Yoder. Other legislators who were helpful were from our local delegation: Sens. Marci Francisco, Roger Pine, Reps. Tom Sloan, Paul Davis, Barbara Ballard, Lee Taffanelli. If you get a chance, thank them for caring about higher education.

Finally, let’s talk about athletics. KU Athletics are always of interest and this year has been no exception. 

Success of basketball, football, softball other sports. New recruit. Top 25, sports and university. Over 300 student athletes had GPAs of 3.0 or higher.

Less positive – you have read about our reporting on NCAA infractions. Let me talk about that for a moment. As most of you may know, last summer the university submitted a report to the National Collegiate Athletic Association regarding rules violations we discovered had taken place during a period that ended in 2003.

The NCAA has responded to the university’s self-report and has issued a Notice of Allegations regarding the rules violations, meaning that they agree with us that they should be reported. The notice included most of the violations that were identified in our self-report to the NCAA.

The university will respond to the notice and will meet with the NCAA Committee on Infractions on August 13. Subsequent to that meeting, the infractions committee will determine whether or not to impose penalties in addition to those I imposed upon the athletics department last summer.

There is nothing in the NCAA’s notice that we have not already discussed internally and with the NCAA staff. Because we aggressively identified our weaknesses, and because we have instituted strong corrective measures since 2003, we are hopeful that the infractions committee will respond positively. I trust the NCAA staff and I trust this process.

We recognize that at times we fell short of the high standards we set for ourselves at the University of Kansas. I am not happy about that. But we have strengthened the athletics department in the areas of academic advising, compliance and rules education, and I have every confidence that what Athletics Director Lew Perkins has put in place since his arrival will foster an atmosphere of academic integrity and rigorous compliance with NCAA rules.

The point to all of this is that we will hold ourselves to high standards and if performance falls below this standard we will take action. It is the only way to guarantee the integrity of our athletic program and the integrity of our university. You can be assured that the honor and integrity of this university will not be compromised. Athletics are important to KU, but we will never compromise the academic integrity of the university in our desire to win.

We are committed to winning within the spirit and the letter of NCAA rules. We will play by those rules.

Finally, we have to admit to a sense of melancholy, as we bid bon voyage to our provost, David Shulenburger, as he embarks for Washington, D.C., and his new position as Vice President for Academic Affairs of NASULGC. Hard to say without a hair in your throat.

David and Carol will both be missed, and there really is no way to tally up their extraordinary contribution to KU’s success over the past decade. Their contributions are woven into the very fabric of KU and we have a better university because of their presence. David and I have had a close partnership. I have never worked with anyone whom I respected more. We will miss you, and KU will feel your absence.

It is appropriate to praise David’s outstanding contribution as we segue into the celebration of our awardees.  These are people who have put KU on the map. They are people of great achievement. It is appropriate that we honor them, as they have honored KU, which is why we come together each year for this event, and why we can be pretty certain that we will be here again next year, with pretty much the same idea in mind, whether the Royals are playing or not.

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The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.